![\"Pixabay:](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/665\/2016\/02\/war-953246_960_720-300x213.jpg\")
It was a warm day, Jesus was\u00a0enjoying the company many people who came to hear him speak. Within the crowd was a\u00a0young man who spent most of his life\u00a0reading and studying the scriptures.\u00a0Jesus could tell that the young man had a heavy heart, so he asked the\u00a0young man, \u201cWhat\u2019s on your mind?\u201d The young man looked at Jesus and said, \u201cYou keep talking about \u2018eternal life.\u2019 What do I need to do to get this eternal life?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus smiled, knowing that this was a \u2018test question\u2019 to see how he would answer. Jesus said, \u201cWhat have you heard? What do you think of what others told you?\u201d<\/p>\n
The young man thought for a second, and answered, \u201cWell, what I have heard from so many is that I simply need to love the divine with everything I am; with every passion, prayer, and fiber of my being.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that all?\u201d Jesus asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I should also love the people around me, just as much as I love myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus smiled, still knowing this was a test, \u201cGood answer! Now, live your life by doing just that and all will be good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The young man took a second, and popped the\u00a0\u2018test\u2019 question on Jesus; he was\u00a0looking for a loophole, a way out of having to do what he knew was right, so he asked, \u201cAnd just how would you define \u2018people around me\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus started to laugh, and said. \u201cLooking for a loophole? Let me share a story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus sat back and said, \u201cOne day a young women was trying to escape the oppression of a government set out to kill her. She walked for days on end to reach safety. On the way she was attacked by a group of men who took everything he had, everything; they took all\u00a0she had\u00a0and left him naked on the side of the road. They\u00a0beat and abused her\u00a0so badly they thought she was dead. They just walked away laughing, looking for their next victim. Luckily, she was alive.\u00a0A Pastor from a local church was on his way to the Hospital to visit a sick church member. When the Pastor saw the women\u00a0laying on the ground naked and covered in blood he crossed the street. He ignored the\u00a0her and looked the other way. But as few moments later, as luck would have it, a good church-going\u00a0Deacon showed up, but he also avoided the injured women. He feared putting her in his car because another member might come by and wonder why a married man would have a naked women in his car.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut soon an Atheist traveling in the opposite direction along the same road came upon the women. When he saw the\u00a0women lying on the ground, naked and covered in blood, his heart went out to her. The Atheist gave her help. He took his shirt and ripped it into bandages to care for her wounds. After bandaging her wounds,\u00a0he\u00a0used his coat to\u00a0cover her, and caring for her as best he could.\u00a0He knew\u00a0she\u00a0needed more\u00a0then he could offer, he helped\u00a0her into his car and drove her to the hospital. The Atheist spent the evening in the waiting room, waiting for news on the women\u2019s condition. When the Doctor came out, she told the Atheist that the wounded\u00a0women would be fine, but she needed to stay in the Hospital one more day to make sure. It was morning, and the Atheist needed to move on. So, he took a credit card and gave it to the Doctor and said, \u2018Care for her, no matter the cost. If she stays longer and if you need more, here is my contact information. I will pay any bill she may incur. I will also be by in a day, or so, to see what else she need.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Jesus was done telling the story, he\u00a0turned to the young man and said, \u201cSo, what do you think?\u201d The man was silent.\u00a0Jesus added, \u201cOut of the three people, the Pastor, the\u00a0Deacon, and\u00a0the Atheist, who\u00a0do you think \u2018cared for the people around, when caring for the women left for dead on the side of the road?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one who cared for her and took care of her regardless of the cost,\u201d the young man replied. Jesus found it amusing that the young man used such general terms to answer the question. Jesus knew this, because he knew that they young man\u00a0could never see the Atheist as the better person.<\/p>\n
Jesus said, \u201cGood, now simply do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was a warm day, Jesus was\u00a0enjoying the company many people who came to hear him speak. Within the crowd was a\u00a0young man who spent most of his life\u00a0reading and studying the scriptures.\u00a0Jesus could tell that the young man had a heavy heart, so he asked the\u00a0young man, \u201cWhat\u2019s on your mind?\u201d The young man […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2697,"featured_media":649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,8,9,11,12,13,20],"tags":[29,48,50,56,59,61,62,64,67],"class_list":["post-441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-karma","category-church","category-good","category-grace","category-love","category-missional","category-new-parable","category-theology","tag-care","tag-friendship","tag-grace","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-mercy","tag-missional","tag-new-parable","tag-positive"],"yoast_head":"\n